<p>Raise your hand if you wished you worked for Google…</p>
<p>VeryHappy, we are going to have about 5 to 7 real estate brokers that have a very good understanding of the market come to our house a few days before it hits the mls and give us their input.
Good luck with the painting.</p>
<p>Vballmom…yeah pricing is huge.</p>
<p>I got some good news today…my master bath remodel permit was approved. I was told the approver was on vacation.</p>
<p>One thing I learned today…we need tons of smoke dectectors and a couple of carbon monoxide detectors. And …we have a second story so
these items have to be wired in the attic for the second floor. Just
screwing them in doesn’t fly anymore.</p>
<p>After the master bath…some flooring work, some painting touch ups…I guess a stager…we are ready to go. Maybe 4 1/2 weeks to go…</p>
<p>Vballmom…one thing I have been told…the house has to be in move in
condition…or the house sales price…if there is one…is going to be slammed. </p>
<p>I have seen that near me. </p>
<p>I think because there are more excellent jobs in the south bay…home prices are a little higher per sq foot in the nicer areas of the south bay than the nicer areas of the north bay.</p>
<p>But the north bay is nicer. :)</p>
<p>D1, a spring '10 grad, put an offer in on a house last week in Iowa. She said it was a great starter house. priced right and in great condition. There were 4!!! offers on the house. They offered full price, plus appliances and didn’t get it. 
Realtor called to see what was accepted . The reason why was the owner acepted an offer “significantly over asking price.” Who knew that was happening in this market??? If the price is right, it will sell!</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota…good luck to your daughter. She will get a place.</p>
<p>north, when my best friend sold her house… the person who made an offer, and ultimately got the house, put in a full price offer no help with closing costs and actually put a clause in her offer that if there was a documented counter offer she would be willing to go over their bid by 2k. There was no other offer as that offer came in the day after it was put on the market and they accepted her full price offer right off that bat. It’s funny how things work.</p>
<p>Before I got my house there was another one that I absolutely adored. I put in an offer and they told me there was another offer and that we both had to counter. They kept going back and forth and eventually I just walked away from it. I checked zillow a few months after and they wound up selling their house like two months after I bid on it for less then what I had originally offered. To this day I still don’t think they had any other offer, I think they were just trying to get me to raise up my price on it.</p>
<p>fendergirl…H and I put an offer in on the house we currently own 10 years ago. We did a one and done. They declined, we walked. A month later the owners came back and sent us an offer to BUY their house for our low ball offer. We accepted. 
Sometimes it’s the ability to walk away from the emotional attachment and see the good financial deal!</p>
<p>Sometimes things happen for a reason…today D1 called and said fiancee was nominated for new position in new town (here!!!) . Yay! The housing is more expensive here but I am glad they could be closer to home!!! 
Things happen for a reason!</p>
<p>The best part about walking away from it was by the time I found this house interest rates had dropped by about half a percent or so… I wound up spending about 5k more for this house then the offer I made on that other house and my payments wound up being lower. Win win all the way around for me anyway!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We were the sellers in a similar story. Our house had been on the market for 18 months and we finally got a low ball offer. It was the day before the tax credit expired and the buyer wanted an answer within a few hours. We turned down the offer and the buyer made an offer on a house up the street. About a month later, I was driving down the street and noticed the for sale sign was back on the house the buyer had a contract on, so I called my realtor (who happened to be the buyer’s realtor also) and she said that contract fell through because of some home inspection issues.</p>
<p>So, I called my husband and asked him what he thought about approaching the buyer and accept their ‘low-ball’ offer. He was in agreement, so the realtor approached the buyer and we ended up selling the house to them after all! </p>
<p>Strange how things work out. That was 6 months ago and I am glad every single day that we took that low offer and sold the house (this was a second home for us). Most of the houses that were for sale during that period are either still on the market or have been pulled by the sellers. In this area, homes above $300,000 aren’t selling very well. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.</p>
<p>has been the renters who have been renting since 1998.</p>
<p>We had inspection issues on my mom’s house. Had a cash offer, and just gave a price reduction on what their contractor estimated repair costs would be. Since holding on to the house would have involved at least 6K/year on homeowners/flood insurance, it was better to cut our losses and take the offer in hand.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>My company’s stock is up 1600% since I joined. With real estate, it’s location, location, location. With company stock and options, it’s timing, timing, timing.</p>
<p>^ so you work for Apple?</p>
<p>No. There are lots of tech companies out there that have done very well over the years.</p>
<p>BTW, one of my current holdings is up over 300,000% over the life of the company and it’s not a tech company.</p>
<p>300,000%?? how long have YOU owned it? and where were you when I need advice 30 years ago? LOL!</p>
<p>^Sounds like it was a true “penny stock”…</p>
<p>ABC Nightline, Suzy Orman new book, Money Class.</p>
<ol>
<li>Expect to Rent. to live below your means but within your needs.
2 Expect to work to 70 because you’ve lost on your current home ownership, lost in your 401k, IRA and b/c you need to have $$$ to 90. </li>
<li>Save by doing with less. Instead of a 3000sft house, do with a 2000sft. Instead of new car at every 3 years, make it last another 7 years.</li>
<li>If you’re only $20,000 underwater on your home, continue paying on it. Everything will work out, eventually. </li>
</ol>
<p>She’s a laugh. </p>
<p>As I said before, the last 13years has been a huge tax burden on the middle class not because of direct taxation but an indirect tax in reaching for the American Dream. Cutting my taxes will get me nothing but a few dollars- Solving/stabilizing the mortgage problem will make me rich.</p>
<p>Heck, she’s living the American Dream and laughing her way to the bank, as they say. Have NEVER had a new car every 3 years and can’t imagine it–seems ever so wasteful. I have owned only two new cars ever in my life. We tend to drive them until they’re really starting to fall apart in earnest. Could we have stock in her? Not sure whom she’s targeting, but somehow she seems to keep making $$$.</p>
<p>We put an offer in on a house a long time ago. They turned us down flat, even though it was close to their asking price. As we drove by this house we had really wanted, we noticed more and more NO PARKING signs around it and more & more development up the hill. There was also a house built directly behind it that left the house in shadow 24/7. The sellers approached us and begged us to put in another offer but we politely declined as we no longer wanted the place at any price.</p>
<p>We also wanted another house further down the street we currently live on. We put in an offer and it was accepted. We COULD NOT afford the monthly payments on it, even though the credit union was ready to approve our loan because we had negative cash flow on two rental properties that we needed to sell but hadn’t even been listed! We were able to get the credit union to reject our loan and got out of the contract w/o penalty (also fired the agent who promised he would coordinate everything so the sales and purchase would line up). The next agent we met worked with us and we ended up with a house we prefer anyway. It also is far away from the auto body work that is being regularly conducted across the street from the house we almost bought!</p>
<p>Yes, we believe things happen for a reason, even if we don’t understand the reason at the time! :)</p>
<p>We recently bought a small condo in Western NY vacation area. In the end, we paid less than what the sellers had paid 10 years ago. We ended up with a 15 year mortgage on the property. And while getting a mortgage on a second home is harder done regardless, qualifying for any mortgage these days is definitely hard going, especially for my H who is self-employed. He actually produced a letter guaranteeing hs current income at a minimum until the end of December 2012. Who gets that kind of guarantee. The Bank’s question was, what happens after that? And we had credit scores just shy of 800 (and mostly dinged due to having multiple banks checking our credit for this very purchase in the pre-approval process)! We have no real debt outside of a current mortgage, pay off all credit cards every month and haven’t even had car payments for the past three years. The point is, despite great credit and making a very good living, the amount of documentation needed was boggling even with well over 20% down. </p>
<p>And regardless of home prices, it’s this interest rate thing that’s going to slow down the market all over again. We locked in at a good rate, but it started ticking upwards very quickly soon after (and continues to go up). So… while our little place MIGHT fall in price a tad more, our current interest rate offsets that. Sure, you can wait until home prices hit bottom (and really how do you know WHEN that is), but unless you’re paying cash, you have to take into consideration what the rising interest rates will do to your buying power (and your payments).</p>
<p>I would very much like to sell my house here in Minnesota - it’s too big at this point and our youngest child will be a senior in HS next year. Since we’ve lived here for almost 18 years, we can “afford” to sell it at current market rate since we bought it so long ago. Admittedly, it is a little harder to wrap your head around a selling price that seems considerably lower than what some of our neighbors sold their homes for 5-6 years ago - like 200k less. But the truth is… a few of our current neighbors are probably upside down based on when they bought. One had been renting their house for the past two years and then just a few weeks ago, recently put it back on the market for probably just slightly more than they paid for it 7 years ago. IF (and it’s a big if) they end up getting somewhere near where it’s priced now, I will see that as a very good sign. and truth is, they’ve already knocked the priced down since it’s listing. It will be interesting to see where they land.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Since Friday. I’m up a few thousand on it. I’ve traded it on and off for the last decade and have done quite well. They reported excellent earnings a week and a half ago, shot up and then retraced back to their breakout point on the market turmoil. This is just a short-term trade for me.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>It was never a penny stock in my recollection.</p>
<p>rom828, regarding Post #95 – Yes, all three realtors showed us comps, and there is no question in my mind which group of comps is more appropriate. It’s kind of like Goldilocks – one realtor was too low, one realtor was too high, and one realtor was just right. </p>
<p>But I agree with dstark, that we’ll get them to look at it again right before we put it on the market.</p>